During my last visit to the United States, I had a rather interesting discussion with my brother-in-law, about his experiences during his two-year job hunt post immigration. Each time he sent his CV to fellow Nigerians, they’d fail to help him. However, the moment he finally managed, despite all the odds to secure a decent job, there has been no end to the flood of messages asking him to come and join the town’s union.
But the Italians did not adopt the mantra of “every man for himself”, but instead worked their way up. Especially in New York. When you were coming off the boat at Ellis Island, you were sure to be taken to the man who would be your padrone to guide and place you. The same can be said of the Indians, and the result has been their almost utter dominance of the software industry in the U.S. It is not an accident that Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are the head honchos at Google and Microsoft respectively.
A few days ago, the Trump Administration announced a restriction on Nigerians migrating to the United States. This piece is not to talk about the reasons behind the restraint, but to point out that if the 380,000 people of Nigerian ancestry in the US had any organisational acumen, I daresay that the restriction would never have happened. The lobbying in Washington would have been intense, and effective.
Great commentary.